Word: cbs
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...that anybody believes the crime franchises are worthless. "Believe me," says ABC prime-time entertainment president Stephen McPherson, "we'd love to have CSI. But you've got to play the cards you're dealt, so to speak, and that's what we did." Not surprisingly, CBS chairman Leslie Moonves agrees that the procedural is not dead. "Good shows work," he says. "Bad shows don't. I don't care what type of shows they are." It's unclear whether many will watch ABC's new hits in reruns or syndication, two reasons procedurals are such moneymakers...
...when you've achieved CSI's level of success, everyone wants to give you a 21-gun salute. Your viewers do; they made CSI the most popular drama on TV and its two sequels, Miami and New York, instant Top 10 hits. Your network does; chairman Leslie Moonves of CBS approved the New York spin-off in a meeting that essentially consisted of his asking Zuiker to pick a city. "You can't overestimate how important the CSI franchise is to us," says Moonves. "It is the linchpin of the resurrection of this network." Your peers do; at this year...
Within a few months in the year 2000, CBS debuted two series that not only turned around a limping network but also reshaped network TV. The effect of the first--Survivor--and of the dozens of reality shows that followed it was quick and obvious. But the second--CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--got little initial attention, even from CBS. CSI proved a dream marriage of the edgy and the safe: an old-fashioned whodunit, set in sexy Las Vegas, that wouldn't alienate CBS's Murder, She Wrote demographic but geeky enough--scientists wielding swabs, not guns--to attract...
...follows business, and CSI--and its descendants, like CBS's Bruckheimer-produced Without a Trace and Cold Case-- are above all damn fine business. The shows follow the procedural format pioneered by Dragnet 50 years ago: crime stories, completely wrapped up in one episode, with minimal attention to the inner lives of any of the characters. A serial drama--say, Six Feet Under or 24--requires that you watch every week and pay close attention. That's a tall order given the competition from cable to the Internet to plain old busy work schedules, and networks are increasingly afraid that...
Coming at a time when broadcast networks have to work harder and harder to keep viewers from choosing alternatives like cable, video games and the Internet, the challenge faced by NBC and Zucker is their most serious in at least a decade. Not only has the once geriatric CBS raced to the top of the network pack with its powerful CSI franchise, but perennial also-ran ABC has the season's sole breakout hits, Lost and Desperate Housewives, a steamy evening soap that Zucker passed on. If the ratings slide continues, it could put a dent in NBC's well...